By Rev. Ivy Merrill
I’m guessing somewhere along the way each of you have heard the word trigger. In mental health circles trigger is any stimulus that causes a painful memory to resurface.
While I was scrolling through posts on my social media, I learned about glimmers. It’s the opposite of a trigger. Glimmers are moments in your day that bring you joy, peace, gratitude. for example, I walked out of the hospital recently to my car on the second floor of the parking garage. And as I turned to put my hand on the door handle, my perspective changed just enough for me to look out at the sky and see a beautiful, deeply colored, vivid orange red deep pink sunset, emerging and shifting, getting more beautiful. After just having a test and thinking about when I might hear what it revealed, here was sacred stunning artistry capturing my attention, reaching to my body, mind, spirit.
Glimmers can be an entryway, an invitation to awaken us to the presence and activity of God. An open door to wonder and Awe. The encounter can be as rare and mysterious as the burning bush Moses saw during his routine sheep-herding . But since glimmers can happen anywhere anytime to any and each of us, they don’t have to be that uniquely spectacular to inspire awe.
Recently, my husband, Mark, whom some of you have met when he has preached here a few times, was diagnosed with a form of leukemia last December. And so we began the journey for a bone marrow transplant for him. We have been finding our way through this unnerving, sometimes scary obstacle course for more than seven months now and all along the way, in every ordinary day there have been extra extraordinary, holy moments, where God has been revealed to be present with us. No burning bushes, but a slew of sacred sightings.
The Sunday we shared this concern with our home congregation in South Berwick, Maine, the unexpected moving of the Holy Spirit burst through. I was standing near the kitchen during fellowship time after worship, answering questions from curious and caring people about what was next for us. One of the things to be required in Mark’s treatment were frequent visits to Mass General Brigham Hospital in Boston prior to and during the transplant, recovering from the transplant and continuing follow- up after his discharge.
Who of you has experience with Boston traffic? Who of you find it no big deal to navigate the long lines, the quick lane changes, along with rerouting required by the constant construction going on in Boston? Mark would be unable to drive and for a different reason, I would be unable to drive, and maintain my sanity. Somewhat jokingly, mostly seriously, I told the handful of people standing nearby that we were gonna need a chauffeur for these multiple trips. Within a moment of speaking those words, a member of the church said “Ivy if you and Mark need drivers for trips to Boston, my husband loves to drive.” And within a moment of her saying that, her husband, not having heard he had been volunteered, came to me and said “if you need a driver, I’m your man.” I’m sure my jaw dropped and liquid started welling up in my eyes, awe-struck. Since his admission, transplant, 5 1/2 weeks in Boston and our weekly trips to Boston now, we have had a chauffeur. In fact, not just one but a team of people recruited and scheduled by another woman at the church. Awesome. This is followed by a multitude of godly glimmers, capturing our attention, beckoning us to step away from worry, reminding us we are not alone.
Mark is progressing toward healthfulness thanks to a 22-year-old unknown donor matching both his marrow and blood type. Astonishing! And, thanks to the myriad of health professionals who have chosen to devote time & energy to gain skills and knowledge necessary to expertly intervene, compassionately and competently infusing us both with kindness, encouragement, hope, and in Mark‘s case medicine. Thanks to all of the hospital workers who explained procedures or taught us precautions, washed the linens and the floors, monitored his diet and accommodated his changing appetite, and stopped the relentless traffic in front of the hospital, so I could cross the street.
It is too easy to take these provisions for granted, to assume they will be accessible and available and successful. But we know better. Only three days ago Mark and I gathered with the friends and family of a kind, generous, gifted man to celebrate his life, because he didn’t overcome his cancer.
And it is also easy to realize the horrendous, mostly human-made conditions so much of humanity is suffering, without even the most basic healthcare, or food, or shelter or safety. provided to bring the most minuscule relief.
The horrors of war, hate, greed, inhumanity, the disregard for the sanctity of life also demand awe. Awe, as it’s used in the Bible, in Hebrew can translate to dread, fear, and in Greek is translated as, shame, weighty, alarmed, among other meanings. This characterization of Awe is far too prevalent for any of us to ignore! Truthfully, it is awe-full that we can become numb to such cruelty and suffering.
Pastor Safwat Marzouk a writer for the website, “The Working Pastor” reminds us: “God’s genuine hope always exists in the shadow of a cross.” Awe in the shadow of the cross can interrupt our ordinary lives, just as the burning bush drew Moses away from the routine of his sheep-herding days to confronting evil and injustice personified in and perpetrated by an authoritarian Egyptian pharaoh. Experiences of wonder and awe call us to come closer to the holy.
Moses’ mysterious bush was not just an unusual site; it was a visible manifestation of the Creator of everything. Any place can become a meeting place with God. The congregation at the bottom of the mountain on which three disciples witnessed Moses and Elijah and the transfiguration of Jesus, that crowd was overcome with awe upon seeing Jesus when he reached the bottom of the mountain. They too were propelled toward holiness, running forward to greet him.
Pastor Marzouk’s wisdom reminds us that, “agents of resilience, resistance, and transformation emerge” from these incomparable encounters with God.
We become those empowered agents when we recognize we are in the presence of the great Divine, when we are drawn to the awesome activity and presence of God, we are being called to come closer to the One in whose image we were created, and respond to God’s call recognizing we are standing on holy ground. Amen.